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Summer’s winding down, but we’re bound to see some lingering 90-plus-degree temperatures across the Valley—a perfect excuse to mix up a batch of gazpacho, the traditional cold Spanish soup.

The Details

JALEO

Cosmopolitan, 698-7950.

Sunday-Thursday, 5-11 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 5 p.m.-midnight.

Jaleo at the Cosmopolitan serves it alongside more contemporary avant-garde fare. Head Chef Rodolfo Guzman, who has actually helmed three different Jaleo locations, brought the gazpacho recipe from the D.C. original. “Gazpacho is a recipe like a pizza,” he muses. “You can include anything in the dish.”

Gazpacho

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

10 red plum tomatoes

1 cucumber (peeled)

½ green bell pepper (seeded)

1 tbsp. sherry vinegar

1 peeled garlic clove

¾ cup Spanish extra virgin olive oil

salt to taste

Method: Chop tomatoes into quarters, cut cucumber into chunks and chop pepper into large pieces. Place ingredients in blender. Add garlic and sherry vinegar to blender and blend until mixture is a thick pink liquid. Taste for acidity and add additional vinegar as necessary. Add olive oil and salt to taste. Re-blend and pour soup through a strainer into a pitcher. Allow to cool in fridge for at least 30 minutes. Serve chilled gazpacho from a pitcher tableside.

Ingredients for garnish:

1 seeded tomato

1 seeded green pepper

1 seeded red pepper

1 peeled cucumber

3 tbsp. Spanish extra virgin olive oil

1 slice rustic white bread

1 tbsp. sherry vinegar

sea salt to taste

Method: Cut tomato, peppers and cucumber into half-inch cubes for garnish. Put to the side. In a small pan, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over a medium-high flame and fry the bread until golden for approximately two minutes. Break into small pieces to form croutons and set aside. To serve, place croutons along with cubes of tomato, peppers and cucumbers in each bowl. Drizzle vinegar and remaining olive oil around each bowl and sprinkle with sea salt.